Popular Garden Tour Returns in 2022 with 6 Unique Gardens
Friday, Apr. 29, 2022
The gardens at the Frank Lloyd Wright house, 255 N. Roosevelt, are included on this year's Garden Tour.
WICHITA — After a two-year hiatus, the popular Garden Tour sponsored by the Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardeners returns this year with a delightful array of gardens. Everyone from the novice to the seasoned gardener will find inspiration and ideas while viewing 6 unique gardens throughout the Wichita area. The tour will be held on June 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2022. The gardens will be open on Friday and Saturday (June 3rd-4th) from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and on Sunday (June 5th) from Noon-4:00 p.m.
Visit six private gardens in the Wichita area that have been selected to feature diverse, creative landscapes. Unique design aspects of each garden will be featured, and will include hardscape and rocks, hostas and shade plants, annual flowers, great plant selections, perennial plants, and youth vegetable gardening. Plants will be labeled, and Extension Master Gardener Volunteers will be available at each garden to share more about the garden and answer gardening questions.
Advance tickets may be purchased for $10.00 per person at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center at 21st & Ridge Road and online through our website at: www.sedgwick.ksu.edu/events or directly on Constant Contact at: https://tinyurl.com/gardentour22. Tickets will also be available at the gardens on the days of the Tour for $10 each. Proceeds benefit the Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer program, and their educational outreach programs throughout Sedgwick County.
For additional ticket or event information, please contact the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center at 316-660-0100.
Featured Gardens Include:
(Images of the gardens are available online or upon request.)
Flowers and Food are our Favorite Things
125 North Gleneagles Road
As you enter the property you will see a beautiful garden with a columnar magnolia and ornamental grasses and begonias lining the front of the bed. A love for the outdoors has developed this property over time into a wonderful mix of perennials, annuals, and shrubs, creating a backyard retreat perfect for ‘painting a picture’ with colors, sounds, and smells. A variety of gardens located around the house showcase plants grown specifically for caterpillars, butterflies, and birds.
Look for the weeping mulberry tree, under-planted with hostas and flowering annuals, in the front yard. As you walk into the backyard, you will notice trees, blooming shrubs, and plentiful flowers in the gardens next to the home. Enjoy the lush backyard vegetable garden and herb area with vegetables growing on vertical structures. Flagstone paths surround annual and perennial flowers planted with butterflies in mind. A river-rock bed running along the gardens assists drainage in the backyard.
A Sunken Garden Sanctuary
950 Toh-N-Hah Trail
As you enter this yard, flowering hydrangeas greet you. Continue around the house and stand by the overlook to the backyard. You will be in awe of the sunken gardens that contain a koi pond, graduated decking, a patio, gazebo, large bird fountain and raised vegetable beds.
Several trees, a hedge and many ground covers populate the half-acre property. A unique succulent plant garden by the road is an excellent example of xeriscaping. The abundant landscaping and gardens were added 24 years ago to a sunken backyard that had nothing but retaining walls, which are now covered with a variety of vines and shrubs. Shade gardens at the rear and side of the property are filled with hostas, alliums and clematis. Look for wildlife attracted to the pollinator plants in the upper and lower areas.
A Full Canvas of Color
3015 South Glenn
A shade garden that started 20 years ago was just the beginning of what has evolved into numerous gardens. Teeming with over 300 beautiful plants and shrubs, this property has become a gardener’s paradise. The perennial garden in the front of the property, which was planted in 2019, contains coneflowers, asters, daisies, yarrow, chrysanthemums, and lilies.
Elaborate stone pathways wind through the front yard and backyard gardens. The tree-covered backyard has paths winding through peaceful yet stunning foliage gardens. A lovely hand-dug koi pond and another water garden containing lilies, ferns and variegated pond grasses attract dragonflies and other insects in the backyard. Cottage gardens amended with compost and mulch attract both birds and pollinators around the property. Host plants with different bloom times create a bird paradise that provides food and shelter during the year.
Gardens Grown with Love
6915 West 35th South
A weeping blue atlas cedar greets you as you approach this large yard with mature trees and balanced gardens. Fifteen-year-old gardens dedicated to past loved ones surround the house with a mixture of hostas and peony plants. Stone and natural pathways wind through shade gardens that include an assortment of ferns, Solomon seal, elephant ears, and coleus. Festive flowers in pots throughout the property add to the visual excitement. Cedar trees that partially line the back of the property provide a backdrop for the Blue false indigo, coral bells, Ajuga and sedum.
The gardens combine sunlight and shade, along with a variety of unique art pieces and flowers, together in perfect balance. Enjoy the imaginative path through the shade garden, while birds flock to a nearby vertical stone fountain to drink. A rear deck with a pergola provides a comfortable viewing area of the entire garden.
The Wright Way of Gardening
255 N. Roosevelt Street - Frank Lloyd Wright’s Allen House
The Allen House, 1916, was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Henry and Elsie Allen. The home is owned and operated by the Allen House Foundation as a house museum open for public tours.
In 2016, Foundation volunteers began restoring the gardens with early 1920’s native plants and plants used by the Allens, including chartreuse sweet-potato vines, ferns and prairie perennials.
Contemporary additions include the red Fireworks grass planted in large ball planters on the brick wall enclosing the courtyard and koi pond. Whopper begonias were added to cascading chartreuse sweet-potato vine in the front window-box, tropical hibiscus with Mexican heather and other annuals in the Wright-designed great urn on the back terrace. Existing plants remain, including yellow iris flags, brown-eyed susans, daylilies, bearded iris and purple liatris. The long, horizontal beds are punctuated with vertical plants to mimic the prairie landscape called for by Wright.
Gardening by Design
21 S. Lynwood Blvd
Over 25 years, Mark and Anita Ward have transformed their Eastborough yard into a beautiful landscape of border gardens, brick and stone walkways and patios, and vintage statuary. Because of the large, mature trees in their yard—two bur oaks, two American elms, and one Oklahoma redbud—they’ve planted shade-tolerant plants throughout. These include succulents, hydrangeas, and hosta plants. Shrubs and trees include Japanese yew, dogwood, Japanese maple, and ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ holly. When planting, they’ve almost always amended their heavy clay soil with a mix of compost and sharp gravel to insure healthy growth.
In 2019, they had a custom-designed cedar fence installed, which sets the backdrop for the garden. Their non-traditional fence, all 350 feet of it, clearly enhances the beauty of the landscape surrounding their home.
